Google will not launch a physical Google Wallet Card at the I/O Developer Conference next week after Osama Beider, vice president of wallets and payments, was forced out of the company.
AllThingsD reports that Google CEO Larry Page was displeased by a glitchy demo he saw last week, ending plans to show off the card at the event next week.
Google Wallet currently allows users to make payments using NFC-enabled phones, but it was believed a plastic card would have more success because consumers would be more familiar with the method.
Google still plans to show improvements to Wallet at the upcoming event, such as new rewards offers and loyalty points, to make it a more credible rival to Apple Passbook.
But these will not be compatible with features in Google Now, which includes support for United Airlines boarding passes on Android.
One product that is expected to be on show at Google I/O is the Motorola X Phone, images of which were supposedly leaked earlier this week. Google acquired Motorola in an £8.5 billion deal in 2012, largely because of the manufacturer’s vast patent portfolio. Yet Google has been unable to use this against its rivals in any significant way to date.
Do you know all of Google’s secrets? Find out with our quiz!
Relief for Apple, Samsung etc after smartphone shipments are predicted to recover in 2024, as…
Beijing reportedly begins blocking the use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers, and…
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…
Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…
Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…
Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…